1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a light source and, more particularly, to an auxiliary light source for self-contained breathing masks.
2. Prior Art
Police, firemen, miners and others who are required to enter or work in areas of little or no ambient illumination must carry with them some form of artificial light in order to perform their work and avoid hazards. Safety lights mounted on various parts of a user's body including head coverings are known in the prior art. The workers typically use safety helmets to protect their heads from falling rocks, timbers, tools, debris and other objects. In order to leave the worker's hands free, it is desirable to attach a light source to the protective helmet so that it shines forward in the direction in which the user faces when the helmet is worn in its normal position.
In some prior art systems, firemen's helmets are provided with front and rear lights. The helmets include both a front light assembly and a rear light assembly, however, such light assemblies have halogen light bulbs which provide for relatively high heat output and do not provide for the advantages of a light emitting diode type assembly.
While prior art versions of helmet mounted head lamps are useful, they suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, the area of illumination is typically limited to a cone shaped region directly in front of the user which is narrower than the typical person's field of view. Under these circumstances, hazardous objects at the periphery of a person's vision are not illuminated by the head lamp, thus exposing the user to unexpected injury from objects outside of the comparatively small illuminated area or requiring the user to constantly move his or her head from side to side and up and down to sequentially illuminate adjacent regions.
A second problem with present day helmet mounted head lamps is that they often interfere with a protective face mask attached to the user's helmet. For example, the head lamp prevents the protective mask from being raised out of the way if it becomes damaged or interferes with the user's ability to help a victim (e.g., when mouth to mouth resuscitation is needed). Under these circumstances, the user may need to remove the helmet or tip it back out of the way, thereby increasing his or her risk of injury because its protective function has been compromised.
Accordingly, a need remains for an auxiliary light source for self-contained breathing masks in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a light source that is safer to use, small in size, reliable, and provides efficient and superior illumination. Such a light source's small size advantageously adds little weight to any attached mask. The light emitting diodes offer superior illumination, durability and reliability in comparison to traditional light sources.